Walmart agrees to $100M settlement over Spark driver pay

Individuals who worked as a Walmart Spark driver in the United States and may have lost earnings due to misleading pay, tip, or incentive representations, may qualify to receive a portion of a $100 million settlement.

Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 11 states. The lawsuit claimed that Walmart deceived Spark delivery drivers about their base pay, incentive pay and tips.

The FTC complaint alleged that Walmart engaged in the following:

• Deceiving drivers about tip amount: Walmart did not notify drivers that advertised tip amount had not been preauthorized by the customer, and drivers would not receive that amount if the customer was unable to cover the cost of the tip or if the charge did not go through.
• Not informing drivers about split tips: Walmart did not inform drivers that it would split tips when a customer’s delivery was split across multiple drivers.
• Deceiving drivers about base pay and tip amounts when Walmart modifies “batched” offers: Walmart did not inform drivers that it would be reducing their base pay and/or tips when it removes orders from “batched orders,” which involve delivering goods to multiple customers during one trip.
• Misrepresenting incentive pay drivers can earn: Walmart did not disclose all the requirements that must be met to earn incentive pay for completing certain tasks, drivers were denied advertised earnings.
• Deceiving customers that the driver 100% of tips: Walmart, on multiple occasions, did to provide collected tips to drivers as promised and did not refund the tip to customers either.

Who qualifies to receive a Walmart payout?

Spark drivers must meet the following criteria:

• They worked as a Walmart Spark driver in the United States, the District of Columbia, or U.S. territories and accepted one or more offers to shop for and/or deliver goods through the Spark driver app between Jan. 1, 2021, and Feb. 26, 2026.
• They were shown base pay, tip, or incentive amounts in the Spark driver app that were not paid as advertised. This includes:
• Incentive payments that the driver did not receive
• Tips that were reduced or not paid as shown in the initial offer card
• Base or tips that were reduced after accepting a delivery offer, with an unclear reason

How much will the Walmart driver settlement payments be?

Cash payment: According to the settlement agreement Walmart will establish a $16,175,302 settlement fund for impacted drivers. Payment amounts will be determined by driver earnings and tips received that did not match the initial offer card and unpaid incentives.

Award calculation examples

• If a driver was shown a $10 tip on the initial offer card but only received $7, they may be eligible for a $3 payment
• If a driver was promised a $50 referral incentive but did not receive it, they may be eligible for the full $50

No claim form required

Drivers do not need to submit a claim form in order to receive a payment.

According to reports, Walmart has begun issuing some payments directly to impacted drivers. The FTC will issue additional driver payments from the established settlement fund.

$100 Million Walmart settlement fund

The $100,000,000 settlement fund includes:

• Driver fund: $16,175,302 for direct payments to drivers
• FTC payment: $10,000,000
• Suspended judgment: $62,824,698, subject to verification of payments already made to drivers
• Payments to states: $11,000,000 divided among Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin

Why was there a Walmart driver settlement?

The FTC and 11 states alleged that Walmart misled Spark Driver delivery workers about the amount of base pay, incentive pay and tips they would receive. The FTC alleged that these practices violated the FTC Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as well as certain state consumer protection laws.

Walmart denied any wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement to avoid further litigation. In addition to the settlement fund, Walmart is required to implement a driver earnings verification program, can no longer modify driver base pay or tip after the initial offer in most circumstances and is banned from misrepresenting earnings offered to drivers.

Sources

1. FTC press release
2. Stipulated order